Tianjin, China, October 11, 2013 -- China and Japan will duel at the finals after beating their respective opponents Hong Kong and DPR Korea at the semifinals of the women’s volleyball tournament at the 6th East Asian Games at Nankai University Sports Center on Friday.

From the beginning of the match, China established control and allowed containable offensive successes by Hong Kong. The Chinese players used all the power through lethal spikes, the service and blocks to stop any attempt for Hong Kong, letting their opponents gain only seven points in the first set.

Hong Kong did their best to resist, and managed to keep positive poise in the second and third set. Despite putting up a brave fight, Hong Kong still proved no match against the much stronger and taller rivals. Chinageared up for an undisputed 25-14 and 25-15 win and alos the match in just one hour.

Wang Yunlu scored 15 points, including 11 kills and four blocks for China to lead the game while Wang Ning added 10. Captain Yeung Sau Mei led the Hong Kong team with nine killing points.

China held a 13-2 advantage in blocks with Wang Yunlu and Wang Ning registering four apiece. China scored 13 points in serving against Hong Kong’s two. The host also kept the upper hand in attacking with 39 wins to 20.

DPR Korea vs. Japan 1-3

China is to challenge Japan, who took almost two hours to rally from the first set down to beat DPR Korea 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21) in the second semi-final match.

DPR Korea started the match with a highly spirited performance and strongly with lethal spikes from both wings by Ri Pom Hui with six hitting winners, and Jong Jin Sim and Kim Un Jong both with three points in attacking, taking a stress-free 1-0 set lead (25-19).

Japan took advantage of DPR Korean four serving errors to lead 8-4 at the first technical time-out of the second set. They mixed the splendid offensive combination of devastating cross-court attacks by Imamura Yuka and Matsuzaki Mika with the effective blocking from Takahashi Masami to lead all the way to win the set 25-21 without much trouble.

Japan got ahead at the start of the third set, to lead 8-6 and widen the gap to 16-11, but six powerful attacks by Jong and Ri pulled DPR Korea back at 21-21, only to see their opponents respond with two blocks and two hitting, clinching the set 25-21.

Japan took a slight lead 8-7 at the first stop and 16-15 in the second of the fourth set. Imamura Yuka hit successfully twice giving Japan a two-point lead at 19-17, forcing DPR Korean head coach Kang Ok Sun call their first time-out, which proved to no avail. Sun then called a second timeout as her team was 23-20 behind. However, Japan went on to take the fourth set 25-17 with spiking from Imamura Yuni, to win the game.